Childhood Obesity

Onkar Sahota: Research shows that many children were sleeping more and exercising less during the course of lockdown. What work has London’s Child Obesity Taskforce been doing on the impact of COVID-19?

The Mayor: London’s Child Obesity Taskforce continue to engage with partners to understand the impact of lockdown on children’s weight.
The Taskforce remains focused on its ambition to improve children’s access to drinking water, especially while in school. In September my Health Advisor hosted a roundtable with Taskforce members, Headteachers and Healthy Schools London borough leads to understand the challenges around water provision. Insights informed a revised Water Only Schools toolkit to support schools in the context of the pandemic, which was published in March.
In the summer of 2020, the Taskforce also engaged with children and families to produce the ‘Our Streets, Our Journeys’ video to champion the importance of safe active travel for children.
The Taskforce term has been extended until November 2021, providing an additional year in which to drive action against its ten ambitions. Its revised programme was outlined by Professor Corinna Hawkes at the London Health Board and includes close partnership working alongside the London Vision and Recovery programme for London.

Waking watches (1)

Andrew Dismore: At the recent FREP meeting Ritu Saha stated that she would like to see more consistency in the advice given by LFB to building managers regarding interim measures. What work has your office been doing to ensure there is consistency in the measures imposed to keep buildings and residents safe?

The Mayor: London Fire Brigade (LFB) staff have been familiarised with the latest version of the National Fire Chief Council’s guidance on interim fire safety measures for buildings requiring remediation, which is supported by a learning package – this methodology provides consistency in line with the national position.
However, the level and type of interim measures will often vary between buildings as factors such as building height, the level and type of cladding, the number of staircases, and any fire safety defects within the premises will all inform the risk assessment carried out by the competent person and the resultant necessary level of interim measures that may be required.
LFB officers have challenged both over-provision and under-provision in waking watches but the LFB does not have legal powers to require the reduction of over-provision that may be recommended or put in place by a competent person or the responsible person for the premises.

Priorities for a future coronavirus inquiry

Caroline Russell: Testing and contact tracing services have been too slow and have not had enough capacity to play their full part in controlling the coronavirus pandemic. Would you support a rapid review of these services in London to ensure these tools are ready to support public health in a future pandemic?

The Mayor: The Government’s testing and tracing scheme has been playing catch-up throughout the pandemic and the failings of the national system need to be independently investigated.
I am working closely with all the agencies involved to support pan-London coordination networks and good practice exchanges to facilitate rapid learning and continuous improvement. The belated involvement of local authorities in the delivery of local schemes for testing and contact-tracing has made a real difference in reaching communities in London. Public Health England London is working with partners to support the development of London-wide strategies and improvement plans which bring together the lessons learnt across the London system, tracking a range of metrics and surveillance indicators to monitor the performance and impact of testing and contact-tracing.
I will ask my Health Advisor, Dr Tom Coffey, to discuss with Professor Kevin Fenton, London Director PHE, if further support is needed to ensure learning is captured to support public health in the future.